A typical lever type electrical connector assembly includes a first connector which has an actuating or mating assist lever rotatably mounted thereon for connecting and disconnecting the connector with a complementary mating second connector. The actuating lever and the second connector typically have a cam groove/cam follower arrangement for drawing the second connector into mating condition with the first connector in response to rotation of the lever.
A common structure for a lever type electrical connector of the character described above is to provide a generally U-shaped lever structure having a pair of lever arms which are disposed on opposite sides of the first (“actuator”) connector. The lever arms may have cam grooves for engaging cam follower projections or posts on opposite sides of the second (“mating”) connector. The connectors often are used where large forces are required to mate and unmate a pair of connectors. For instance, terminal and housing frictional forces encountered during connecting and disconnecting the connectors may make the process difficult to perform by hand.
Such lever type connectors typically include a connector housing mounting a plurality of terminals. The housing includes a forward end for mating with the second connector and a rear end for receiving a plurality of electrical wires for termination to the terminals. The lever is pivotally mounted on the housing for movement between a pre-load position allowing the electrical wires to be easily terminated to the terminals and a mated position for drawing the mating connector into mating condition with the actuator connector. After the wires are terminated to the terminals and before the lever is pivoted to its mated position, a wire dress cover is positioned over the rear end of the housing.
Problems still are encountered with such lever type connectors. One problem revolves around the fact that the lever structure is unrestrained and has a tendency to move around or “flop” before the electrical wires are terminated and the connector is fully assembled. In particular, the actuator connector housing, with the terminals mounted therein and the lever pivotally mounted thereon, may be shipped to a customer and, thereafter, the customer terminates the electrical wires to the terminals and installs the wire dress cover before mating with the mating connector. The lever has a tendency to move all around during shipping and handling. Another problem involves the space that the lever structure occupies at one side of the connector housing when the lever is in its pre-load position. If two connectors are mounted back-to-back, the pre-load positions of the levers of the connectors prevent the connectors from being mounted sufficiently close to each other. The present invention is directed to solving these problems.